Breeding coturnix quail color questions

[CovidtimeQuail]

It’s my understanding, which could be wrong, that English white is a recessive gene, and we don’t often see it in the us, but they’re fairly common in England. The white birds we see in the us are usually the Texas a&m line. I believe they are carriers of all the combined pied genes, and they usually have a couple spots of color on the head or back. You will not get tuxedos by breeding an English white to a pharaoh, unless one or both carry various pied genes, such as white bib, white primaries, etc. it’s a combo of, I want to say 5-7, different pied genes that combine to make tuxes and a&ms.

That makes sense. I was always thinking that English White and Texas A&M were at least closely related genetically, but I have had white colored birds emerge where neither bird was white. If it was recessive, that would be an unusual outcome to say the least.